How Much Weight Can Your Dump Truck Handle?

When you need to haul loads of material to and from job sites for construction and roadwork projects, it’s good to have a dump truck. As you haul this material, you may wonder, “How Much Weight Can My Dump Truck Handle?” Luckily, it’s easy to determine the capacity of your dump truck.

Size Affects Your Truck

The amount that your dump truck can carry depends on its size. For example, larger vehicles usually carry approximately 28,000 pounds or 14 tons. But if you have a smaller vehicle, those numbers can range between about 6.5 to 7.5 tons or 13,000 to 15,000 pounds.

Determine Your Capacity

If you want to find out a more exact number of how much weight your dump truck can handle, you can easily do this on your own. Look at your registration to find out your gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), which is the maximum amount your vehicle can handle. This number includes the weight of your truck while it’s empty.

If you know that number, you should be able to calculate how much of a load you can carry without exceeding the GVWR. If you exceed this weight, you can put extra strain on your brakes and tires while escalating the risk of a blowout, reducing your vehicle’s ability to stop safely.

Determine How Much Material You Need

When people buy and haul material for construction projects, they usually determine how much they need in cubic yards. You can calculate how much you need through a few simple steps. First, measure the width and length of the area where the material will go in feet. You should also measure the area’s depth in inches.

You can then convert the length and width measurements to inches by multiplying them by 12. You should then multiply all three together to get the number in cubic inches. Afterward, you will need to divide the total by 46,656, which is how many cubic inches there are in a yard, to get your amount in cubic yards.

If you want to protect your dump truck from the material you haul to a job site, contact Linings Inc. We offer products like our UHMW bed liner that can handle aggressive applications. We are ready to help you!